U.S. Continuing Involve ment with the Joint Convention - 9169

The Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management (Joint Convention) is an international convention, under the auspices of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). It is a companion to a suite of international conventions on nuclear safety and physical security, which serve to promote a global culture for the safe use of radioactive materials. The Joint Convention is an official international treaty, and as such, there are obligations on the part of the United States. Those nations having ratified the Joint Convention are designated as “Contracting Parties.” Nations that are not IAEA Member States may also become Contracting Parties to the Joint Convention, although none has done so. The primary obligations are threefold. The first is to prepare a national report, which addresses the national safety program in radioactive waste management, spent nuclear fuel management, and disused sealed sources. As the U.S. prepares a national report, other Contracting Parties to the Joint Convention also prepare their national reports, which leads to the second obligation on the part of the Contracting Parties. This is the obligation to review other countries’ national reports. The last specific obligation is to actively participate in the triennial peer review meeting, referred to as the Review Meeting of the Contracting Parties. The U.S. ratified the Joint Convention in 2003, just prior to the First Review Meeting of the Contracting Parties, and has participated fully therein in the ensuing Review Meetings. Because of the benefits in active participation, it is important for the U.S. to maintain its leadership role in promoting its ratification in the global setting, as well as in more focused regions. Because of the important benefits associated with active participation, the U.S. has strongly supported a Regional Conference Initiative outreach program to increase membership. To launch the Initiative, the U.S. provided Extra-Budgetary contributions to fund conferences in Africa, the Americas, Asia and Europe. We also provided an expert for each of the conferences to assist in advancing the message to non-Member States, in particular developing nations considering ratification. The peer review process has resulted in the identification of good practices and future challenges that all Contracting Parties should consider in the evolution of use of radioactive materials and care for the exposed individuals and the environment in which such materials are used, stored and disposed. The Joint Convention process also provides opportunities to identify future areas of bilateral and multilateral technical and regulatory cooperation with other Parties. Furthermore, the Joint Convention is